Understanding True Collection In Horses
Everyone knows that horses are supposed to be collected when ridden, but a majority of people don’t understand what true collection means.
No, Collection is not just having your horse’s head down.
A low head is actually the very last step of collection and is more of a side effect of a horse being collected, not the goal itself.
Did you know that horses naturally carry 60% - 70% of their body weight on their front end? This makes them front-end sticky (and also a large factor in why we teach them to disengage their hindquarters first - it’s easier for them!)
The horse's hindquarters is the engine. This is where the power comes from for both speed and strength. In order to fully engage a horse’s hindquarters, the horse needs to transfer some of the excess weight they’re carrying on their shoulders back to their hindquarters.
By transferring this weight, they free up their shoulders to act as a steering wheel and give the hindquarters the extra power they need.
The key to transferring this weight lies in the ribcage. The ribcage serves as a bridge, and the softer and more flexible this bridge is, the better a horse can collect.
Here’s how it works:
The Horse rounds his back (ribcage).
a.) This is more of a muscle flex, you’re not necessarily going to feel like you’re sitting on a convex bump.
Once the ribcage is rounded, the horse is then able to rock the weight back off of the shoulders and onto the hindquarters.
Once the shoulders are freed up to serve as power steering, the head and neck will naturally lower themselves into a comfortable position in alignment with the top line.
a.) The key here to where exactly a horse carries his head and neck naturally when collected, depends a lot on his confirmation. A thoroughbred who’s built more uphill will naturally have a higher headset than a quarter horse who’s bred to be a reiner with big stops.
b.) If you desire a certain ‘look’ of how you want a horse to carry himself, then you need to shop with confirmation at the top of the list knowing you’re going to need to overlook other factors such as color or bloodlines.
Horses come into this world knowing how to carry themselves. It’s us humans who interfere through incorrect manipulation, poor fitting tack, lack of conditioning, and other factors that cause atrophy and inhibit a horse from riding around collected.
This is why it is so important to understand what is really going on in the horse's body when he collects up, so we can learn to set him up for success and stay out of his way.
